Incorporating free meals when lean bulking

[lgnorant]

How does everyone here maintain balance with social outings / date nights

Starting my bulk and i want to be able to have a free untracked meal for date nights, my maintenance calories is around 3200 a day, so a surplus is 3,450

Would it be wise to say eat 3000 calories a day with a untracked free meal saturday nights?

I want to bulk for a good long year so looking to have a sustainable long term bulk

 

[stackdizzy]

Dude your bulking and its what a meal or two a.week? Just fuck the wife extra long on those nights. Or do cardio 2 or 3 times a week. Or cut cals early on on those days. Or do nothing at all just eat the food. I wouldn't cut cals on days your bulking and working out just to make them up through 1 meal a week.

 

[Tomgrass]

I would train really hard on these days to give body a reason to utilise these foods. And i would not worry cause you probably gonna eat good quality food , just choose wise from menu and prioritise proteins and fats if it is evening- steak with salad or baked fish with vegetables.

 

[lipid]

These 2 posts are the reason why so many bodybuilders are fat tbh

 

[dany23x]

For me the free lunch makes no sense to exist

do you want to eat extra mentally? Eat more meat, more rice, more eggs

but clean food; junk food rich in saturated fats only worsens your insulin sensitivity; if you then use GH, insulin is the stupidest thing you can do

 

[southernmucle214]

I would either "protein fast" for the day and hit protein goal or put a max on calories for the cheat meal. I would also include cardio at least 4 days per week

 

[lipid]

I would either "protein fast" for the day and hit protein goal or put a max on calories for the cheat meal. I would also include cardio at least 4 days per week

This

 

[Jefe]

Just eat something sensible like the others said. It’s not a big deal.

You’re going to do damage when you start pouring drank down your throat. Those kcals are worse than dinner.

 

[stackdizzy]

These 2 posts are the reason why so many bodybuilders are fat tbh

Most BB are fat because they don't do shows or diet down ever or not to a low.bf. Most BB are perma bulkers. No one is.fat solely becuase.they had an extra meal once a.week while bulking. Never mind lean bulkers seem to all have gh, dnp one or both in common.

 

[Gunsmith]

I really liked how John Meadows set up diets (cutting and growing) like a 90%-10% ratio. 90% of your diet is.on plan then 10% is what he called "fun food" basically if you are eating 5x a day , every other day you get a free meal. That's not saying go eat 2 Baconator meals from Wendy's , crush a Chinese buffet or eat a whole large pizza but a dinner size portion fromma restaurant should not hurt you at all.

I personally found that when id have a cheat meal during a growing phase i would skip the meal before so my stomach was empty and i could eat my whole meal and not be over stuffed and fuck up my digestion.

 

[IntenseVolume]

Id do it on a day of a body part I was wanting to bring up and make it a sensible choice. Not something like pizza or Chinese food but like a steak or chicken and rice or a baked potato.

 

[Shelby]

We don't know anything about you - crucial stuff like your body weight, your metabolism, muscularity level, anything.
But this is how it works - you try it out, and see what the results are. If the results are good, you keep going. If the results suck, you change course. This applies to most of life.
Also - I always liked putting my cheat meal on the night BEFORE training what I considered to be a weak body part. This way, I was fully loaded and strong for that workout.
If you train all week long and then train your weak body part, then have the cheat meal afterward, you'll probably be most depleted going INTO that workout. Maybe not smart.

 

[Tomgrass]

I really liked how John Meadows set up diets (cutting and growing) like a 90%-10% ratio. 90% of your diet is.on plan then 10% is what he called "fun food" basically if you are eating 5x a day , every other day you get a free meal. That's not saying go eat 2 Baconator meals from Wendy's , crush a Chinese buffet or eat a whole large pizza but a dinner size portion fromma restaurant should not hurt you at all.

I personally found that when id have a cheat meal during a growing phase i would skip the meal before so my stomach was empty and i could eat my whole meal and not be over stuffed and fuck up my digestion.

Unless you are going to eat all you can buffet then 1 extra grilled chicken breast with veg and low fat dressing gonna only benefits you.

 

[IntenseVolume]

We don't know anything about you - crucial stuff like your body weight, your metabolism, muscularity level, anything.
But this is how it works - you try it out, and see what the results are. If the results are good, you keep going. If the results suck, you change course. This applies to most of life.
Also - I always liked putting my cheat meal on the night BEFORE training what I considered to be a weak body part. This way, I was fully loaded and strong for that workout.
If you train all week long and then train your weak body part, then have the cheat meal afterward, you'll probably be most depleted going INTO that workout. Maybe not smart.

If you were carb cycling would you have the high day the day before the weak bodypart? The reason I ask is because I always have a free meal on one high day at the end and I have my high day on a day of a body part I want to bring up.

 

[Josefein421]

sounds like gross overanalysis. Swap 1 regular meal for a free meal. Best mater in the day don't does t mess w digestion. I think most people fuck themselves up but having a free meal and eating so much they ruin digestion and are no longer replacing 1 meal but 2 and possibly reducing calories quite a bit then. I am guilty of this.

I try to do burger, Italian, sushi as my go to free meals. This works fine. But I have such a sweet tooth the ice cream or 2-3 slices of cake are what fuck me.

I credit the gh and gda's as letting me eat all the deserts I am without getting fat.

However I have noticed the more sugar I eat the more I crave it. Something to be mindful of implementing free meals.

 

[bbxtreme]

How does everyone here maintain balance with social outings / date nights

Starting my bulk and i want to be able to have a free untracked meal for date nights, my maintenance calories is around 3200 a day, so a surplus is 3,450

Would it be wise to say eat 3000 calories a day with a untracked free meal saturday nights?

I want to bulk for a good long year so looking to have a sustainable long term bulk

@Shelby said it best- we don’t know enough to give personal input for your case.

BUT I’ll tell you what I do- I have one “free meal” per week currently. On Saturday night with my wife as it’s our date night. That is the primary reason I do it- it’s our one time and thing together each week.

Now I am also in a progressive phase and track everything to the gram and compete on a national level. I stay very lean year round.

To be clear- a free meal is NOT “how much can I eat in this one setting”. If it throws off your digestion, you’ve gone too far. I like to put mine as meal 5 on Saturday which is my second leg day. This lets me know I still have one more meal to get in before bed.

If you have no self control free meals aren’t for you. Guys may say “Samson eats a pizza every weekend”- 99% of guys on here are not Samson.

 

[jaxino]

How does everyone here maintain balance with social outings / date nights

Starting my bulk and i want to be able to have a free untracked meal for date nights, my maintenance calories is around 3200 a day, so a surplus is 3,450

Would it be wise to say eat 3000 calories a day with a untracked free meal saturday nights?

I want to bulk for a good long year so looking to have a sustainable long term bulk

Just eat 3450 calories and do your date meals at night as last meal of the day.

Don't stress it too much.

 

[TheOtherOne55]

Well it’s clearly obvious u don’t have a coach because this is the most over thought shit ever. Also, you’re on a 250cal surplus? Lol what the hellll is that gonna do. If you’re so stuck on barely having a surplus then honestly, you shouldn’t have a free meal. Simple as that. You’re anal about the cals therefore you shouldn’t have a “free meal.”

 

[cesarpaiva]

Free meal i just usually do on social events and really moderate, rather go for something closer to my diet than try to reinvent the wheel

 

[slesh]

How does everyone here maintain balance with social outings / date nights

Starting my bulk and i want to be able to have a free untracked meal for date nights, my maintenance calories is around 3200 a day, so a surplus is 3,450

Would it be wise to say eat 3000 calories a day with a untracked free meal saturday nights?

I want to bulk for a good long year so looking to have a sustainable long term bulk

You are way overthinking this. You're trying to grow - eat. Why are you concerned with one dirty meal a week?